Sidney  Myers 


.O' 


Speech  before  +be 
lUioois  s+ote  gnaoge 


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OF  THE 

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SPEECH  OF  S YDNEY  M YERS,  ESQ., 

BEFORE  THE 

TT,T.T~r^OTS  STJYTEI 

OF  THE 

FATBONS  OF  HUSBANDBY, 

AT 

oiiA3Sd:i>u??^iC3-aNr,  laLi^iUNrois,  3Deo-.14,  187S. 


Mr.  President^  Patrons  and  Matrons 
of  the  Blinois  State  Grange: 

Organization  is  a universa,!  index  of 
development.  In  nature,  from  the 
oyster  to  the  man,  we  see  a contin- 
ued gradation  of  organization  and  de- 
velopment, until  it  reaches  the  highest 
stage— man,  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
with  full  understanding  and  power  of 
direction.  Individuals,  separate,  have 
power,  doubtless;  but  separated,  they 
are,  as  it  were,  plates.  When  united  un- 
der proper  circumstances,  and  placed  in 
proper  juxtaposition,  they  become  a vol- 
taic pile,  capable  of  generating  power 
that  may 

CONVULSE  A CONTINENT, 

nay,  a world.  It  is  gratifying  to 
see  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  are  organizing  themselves.  It 
is  gratifying  to  see  that  while]  all  oth- 
er classes  of  society  (that  great  co-opera- 
tive organization  of  which  we  are  all 
members,)  have  organized  themselves  so 
as  to  co-operate,  and  wield  their  power, 
their  united  will  and  understanding, 
in  a concentrative  manner,  the  great 
yeomanry  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  our  farmers,  have  progressed 
so  far  in  organization  in  order  that  they 
may,  by  unity  of  action,  by  unity  of  their 
intellect  and  their  judgment,  by  the  uni- 
ty of  that  knowledge  which  they  pos- 
sess bring  to  bear  upon  public  opinion 
their  just  proportion  of  influence  and 
weight.  And  I am  gratified,  too,  to  see 
that  the  farmers’  organizations  have  the 
independence  to  reserve  to  themselves 
'he  liberty  of  pulling  in  their  latch  string, 
m m shoving  it  out,  as  they  have 


done  this  evening  to  the  general  public. 

My  theme  to  night  is 

FINANCE. 

It  is,  perhaps,  a dry  subject.  Bread  and 
butter  is  a dry  subject,  and  bread  without 
butter  is  dryer,  and  not  enough  bread  is 
dryer  still(applause).  Tnere  are  too  many 
men  in  this  country  to-day  that  are  not 
earning  their  bread  and  butter,  and  when 
we  come  to  consider  the  subject  of  finance 
one  of  its  principal  features  is  to  ascer- 
tain by  what  means  it  may  be  brought 
within  the  reach  of  every  man  and  wo- 
man in  the  United  States  to  earn  an  hon- 
est living,  that  it  may  be  said  that  any 
one  who  is  willing  to  work  may  find 
work,  and  just  compensation  for  that 
work. 

FINANCE  DISCUSSED  ABROAD. 

The  discussion  of  the  subject  of  finan- 
ce, the  interested  and  the  active  discus- 
sion of  the  subject  of  finance,  is  not  con- 
fined to  this  country;  and  even  here  it 
has  scarcely  begun.  This  interesting 
subject  is  being  discussed  in  all  civil- 
ized countries,  and,  in  no  country,  as  far 
as  my  observation  enables  me  to  judge, 
is  there  a system  which  is  entirely  sat- 
isfactory. Meetings  are  being  held  by  the 
boards  of  trade  in  every  part  of  England, 
Scotland  and  Ireland.  Delegates  have 
recently  been  appointed  to  attend  a 
representative  meeting  of  all  the 
boards  of  trade  in  the  united  king- 
dom of  Great  Britian  and  Ireland  for 
the  purpose  of  petitioning  the  British 
Government  to  appoint  a parlament- 
ary  commission  to  examine  into  the  con- 
dition of  British  finance,  and  to  ascer  - 
tain whether  it  is  not  practicable  to  hav  ^ 


5 


speech  of  Sydney  Myers,  Esq., 


a system  of  finance  changed  by  which 
the  price  of  money,  varies  as  it  does  now, 
from  two  and  one-half  per  cent,  per  an- 
num, up  to  ten  per  cent,  or  more  within 
short  periods.  The  manufacturers  say 
we  often  go  into  the  market  and  pur- 
chase our  raw  material  when  money  is 
worth  only  2^  per  cent,  per  annum. 
When  interest  is  low,  prices  are  high;  we 
purchase  our  raw  muterial  at  a high 
price;  “we  engage  in  its  manufacture; 
it  may  take  us  six  months  before  we  are 
prepared  to  turn  out  a finished  article 
ready  for  the  market:  and  when  we  are 
prepared  to  turn  out  the  finished  article 
we  may  find  the  rates  of  interest  double, 
treble  or  quadruple,”  money  scarce 
and  prices  low.  It  has  frequently 
been  the  case  that  the  rate  of  interest 
in  England  has  raised  from  two  and 
one-half  per  cent,  to  7 and  8 per  cent, 
within  sixty  days— and  that  recently— 
and  the  rate  has  gone  as  high  as  12  per 
cent.  The  British  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers say  to  the  government,  “we 
cannot  stand  this.  It  turns  us  from  be- 
ing legitimate  business  men,  engaged  by 
our  labor  in  adding  to  the  value  of  raw 
material  by  changing  its  form  into  things 
of  use  and  enjoyment,  looking  to  the  re- 
turn for  our  labor,  in  receiving  an  ade- 
quate price  in  the  market— it  turns  us 
from  that  business  to  that  of  mere  spec- 
ulators. We  find  that  many  of  us  will  get 
rich  faster,  apparently,  by  selling  short 
what  we  have  not  got,  or  buying  long 
more  than  we  can  pay  for  without 
a rise,  rather  than  manufacture.” 
[Applause.]  Let  “some  one  else  do  the 
work  and  we  will  guess  and  see  if  we 
cannot  make  a profit  by  guessing.” 

Such  is  too  much  the  condition  all 
over  the  world;  and  it  is  one  of  the  most 
important  problems  that  can  employ  the 
attention  of  an  industrious,  enterprising 
people,  a civilized  people,  to  ascertain 
what  is  the  present  financial  condition, 
what  are  the  objections  to  the  present 
condition,  and  what  are  the  possible 
remedies. 

THE  VENETIAN  SYSTEM. 

Seven  hundred  and  four  years  ago, 
Venice,  the  queen  of  the  Adriatic, 
then  mistress  of  the  commercial  v/orld, 
was  carrying  on  a war  with  the  em- 
peror of  the  East  and  with  Greece.  The 
Republic  needed  money;  the  Republic 
called  upon  its  citizens  to  bring  in  their 
gold  and  their  silver  into  the  proper  de^ 
partment  of  the  treasury  of  the  state; 
each  brought  in  his  gold  and  his  silver, 
not  only  from  motives  of  patriotism,  but 
because  the  council  of  Ten,  who  were  ac- 
customed to  seeing  that  their  orders 
were  obeyed,  had  commanded  that  eve- 
ry citizen  should  contribute  means  to 
the  State  according  to  his  ability.  Gold 
and  silver  were  brought  to  the  treasury, 


and  as  each  man  passed  in  nis  gold  and 
silver  he  received  credit  [on  the  books  of 
the  nation  for  that  amount,  as  you  would 
receive  credit  on  the  books  of  the  mer- 
chant when  you  sell  and  deliver  the  pro- 
ducts of  your  farms  or  at  the  bank  when 
you  make  your  deposit.  Each  re- 
ceived credit  on  the  books  of  the  nation, 
and  Venice  agreed  to  pay  interest  at  the 
rate  of  four  per  cent,  per  annum  in  coin 
upon  every  man’s  balance  in  the  treasu- 
ry. No  checks  or  circulating  notes  were 
used;  nothing  was  received,  except  as  a 
permanent  investment,  to  go  into  the 
hands  of  the  government,  and  to  be  ex- 
pended in  their  foreign  wars.  Soon  one 
of  those  men  creditors  of  the  nation  died, 
perhaps  leaving  five  children.  The 
question  arose : “This  book  credit  is  to 
his  account,  is  in  his  name.”  The  ad- 
ministrators desired  to  divide  this  es- 
tate. There  were  five  heirs.  , Applica- 
tion was  made  to  the  proper  authori- 
ties. Cannot  this  one  account  be  divid- 
ed into  five  accounts,  and  this  account 
be  closed  by  having  the  gross  amount 
credited  in  proportion  to  each  of  the 
five  heirs.  That  was  approved.  The 
sume  principle  was  applied  in  divid- 
ing the  assets  of  bankrupts.  For  even 
in  Venice  there  were  some  bankruptcies, 
but  not  so  many  as  we  have  in  the  civil- 
ized countries  of  these  later ‘days,  when 
bankruptcy,  sometime  during  a busi- 
ness life,  is  the  general  rule,  and  im- 
munity from  bankruptcy  is  the  except- 
ion. Perhaps  some  of  you  are  not  awmre 
that  in  1840  the  collector  of  the  port  of 
Boston  was  ipvestigatingthe 

SUBJECT  OF  BANKKUPTCY, 

and  he  found  that  in  the  city  of  New 
York  there  was  but  one  wealthy  man 
who  had  retired  after  passing  through  a 
business  life,  who  had  never  suspended 
payment  or  failed;  that  in  Boston  not 
over  three  merchants  in  a hundred  re- 
tired from  their  business  in  their  old  age 
with  means  enough  to  bury  them,  and 
leave  their  families  provided  for  even 
after  failure;  that  the  average  was 
the  same  in  Philadelphia,  or  more 
startling,  and  much  the  same  even  in 
Cincinnati,  then  a comparatively  new 
place.  I say  that  even  in  Venice  there 
might  occasionally  be  failures,  because 
there  must  be  men  who,  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  had  not  the 
skill,  the  prudence,  or  the  ability  to 
carry  on  the  business  which  might  grow 
on  their  hands.  So  that  there  were 
occasionally  men  in  Venice  who  failed 
in  business,  and  it  was  necessary  thal 
their  assets  should  be  divided  among  ther 
creditors.  Hence  the  republic  of  Venice' 
^permitted  the  assignee  in  bankruptcy  to 
cause  a transfer  from  th  account  of  tin 
insolvent  mercliaiit  on  the  books,  i< 
each  of  his  creditors  in  proportioii  to  th 


Before  the  lllmois  Btate  Grange.  8 


amount  due,  and  gradually  from  this 
grew  up  a system  by  which  one  owing 
you  a thousand  dollars,  and  having  five 
thousand  dollars  of  credit  with  the  na- 
tion, would  ask  you  in  that  city  to  step 
into  a gondola  and  go  down  to  the  bank, 
as  it  soon  got  to  be  called,  and  would 
trajisfer  to  you  from  his  account  of  per- 
haps, $5,000— $1,000,  The  interest  would 
begin  to  run  to  y#ur  account  the  daj"  of 
the  transfer;  and  when  they  figured  up 
his  interest  there  would  be  a thousand 
dollars  out  of  his  principal  on  the  day 
that  he  made  the  transfer  to  you.  For 
nearly  six  hundred  years  in  the  great  city 
of  Venice,  business  was  conducted  in  this 
way  without  a panic,  without  a financial 
crisis,  without  a suspension. 

CRISIS. 

What  does  a crisis  mean?  A crisis, 
financial,  means  a stoppage  of  all  busi- 
ness, in  order  that  men  may  settle,  and 
the  only  way  that  a commercial  people 
can  settle  is  to  in  ter- change  and 
cancel  indebtednes.  It  is  only  the 
smaller  business  transactions,  com 
paritively  speaking,  that  are  settled 
with  currency,  yet  currency  is  the  basis 
of  all  commercial  transactions,*  and  not 
a bale  of  cotton,  not  a wagon  load  of 
grain,  no  stock  or  other  farm  product 
caij^be  transferred  by  the  producer  to 
the  consumer  without  the  aid  of 
currency.  A crisis  means  a stop- 
page of  manufactures,  the  throwing  of 
men  and  women  out  of  employment, 
the  suffering  of  their  families  for  want 
of  bread  and  shelter;  it  means  that 
corn  shall  be  burned  upon  the  farms  be- 
cause the  machinery  by  which  its  owner- 
ship is  exchanged  is  temporarily  ob- 
structed and  inoperative;  it  means  that 
the  farmer  shall  want  boots  and  shoes, 
and  clothing,  though  he  has  corn,  and 
meat,  and  butter,  and  the  materials  for 
bread  to  give  for  them,  while  the  opera- 
tives in  the  manufacturing  establish- 
ments, or  that  should  be  in  the  manu- 
facturing establishments,  who  might  be 
making  boots  and  shoes  and  clothing  for 
the  farmer,  are  idle,  unemployed,  as  they 
are,  to  a great  extent  to-day  in  this 
country.  It  is  a lamentable  truth  that 
while  the  operative  should  be  suffering 
for  bread,  the  farmer  is  using  his  corn 
for  fuel.  Under  the  financial  system  in- 
augurated by  the  Venetians  the  credits  in 
the  Treasury  of  Venice  became  so  valu- 
able that  those  who  had  balances  there 
were  offered  thirty  per  cent  premium  in 
gold.  For  centuries  the  premium  was 
thirty  per  cent  in  gold  upon  this  mere 
paper  book  account.  In  time  it  was 
found  that  the  debt  of  Venice  was 
too  small  to  furnish  the  exchange  of 
that  wealthy  city,  and  in  order 
to  obviate  that‘  difficulty,  Venice 
said,  “We  cannot  run  into  debt 

•0004R.^ 


any  more,  we  have  no  wars  to  carry 
on,  our  public  works  are  complete,  our 
income  is  sufficient  from  the  ordinary 
revenue  to  pay  current  expenses,  but 
this  is  a commercial  city:  we  listen  to 
the  cry  that  comes  up  from  the  people; 
it  is  the  office  of  government  to  look  to 
the  welfare  of  the  people,  because  the 
government  is  the  people’s  servant  and 
creature.”  [Applause].  And  the  Council 
of  Ten  considered  the  matter  when  the 
cry  came  up  from  the  jieople,  and  they 
said,  “We  will  use  our  intelligence;  we 
will  use  our  good  judgement,  though  we 
have  no  precedents,”  (as  we  have  to-day) 
“we  have  no  precedent,  but 

WE  WILL  MAKE  PRECEDENTS 

that  the  world  may  follow,”  (and  that 
the  world  has  followed  successfully.) 
They  said,  “Here  is  a branch  office  es- 
tablished ; bring  in  your  gold  and  silver ; 
you  shall  have  credit  on  the  books  here 
for  your  coin,  but  not  any  interest.  Ven- 
ice pays  interest  only  upon  what  it  used 
of  your  means  to  expend  in  war  or  for 
the  public  good.  This  branch  bank  of 
Venice  is  for  your  convenience.  Bring 
in  your  coin,  we  will  melt  it,  we  will 
assay  it,  we  will  cast  it  into  bars  or  into 
coin;  it  shall  rest  here  in  the  bank;  and 
whenever  you  wish  to  make  a payment 
you  can  transfer  this  deposit  of 
coin  instead  of  government  debt;”  and 
this  brought  the  government  debt  to 
twenty  per  cent  premium  instead'  of 
thirty.  But  the  merchants  preferred  the 
government  debt  to  the  coin  deposited, 
and  there  was  that  difference  of  twenty 
per  cent  between  the  tv/o  and  in  favor  of 
government  debt  bearing  four  per  cent 
interest.  This  illustrates  a fact  that 
there  can  be  and  has  been  a circulating 
medium  other  than  coin  worth  more  than 
coin. 

THERE  WAS  ANOTHER  NATION. 

Fourteen  years  ago  it  needed  horses  for 
its  cavalry,  mules  for  its  trains,  clothing 
to  uniform  its  men,  iron  to  cast  into  can- 
non and  to  forge  into  armor  plates  for 
its  ships ; it  needed  the  life  blood  of  your 
sons  to  maintain  the  institutions  which 
have  been  handed  down  to  us  as  a sacred 
trust  by  our  fathers.  It  needed  no 
money,  but  it  thought  it  did.  It  went 
to  Wall  street,  and  the  banks  soon  sus- 
pended. They  had  nothing  but  paper 
promises  to  offer  the  government.  But  it 
did  not  want  paper  promises,  its  own 
promises  were  better ; it  wanted  those  ar- 
ticles that  I have  named,  and  with  great, 
good  judgment,  with  wonderful  wisdom 
recognized  the  fact  that  the  government 
might  give  its  bonds  for  what  it  wanted; 
that  the  people  would  come  up  as  the 
people  of  Venice  did,  not  with  their  gold, 
though  they  were  willing  to  offer  gold 
like  any  other  commodity,  and  did  offer 


4 


Speech  of  Sydney  Myers,  Esq., 


it,  but  those  things  that  were  nec- 
tissary  to  earry  on  a war  to  preserve 
the  life  of  what  is  yet  to  be  the  great  re- 
public. And  what  did  the  whole  people 
through  their  agent, the  government,  give 
to  the  people  individually?  What  did 
it  give  to  the  merchant  for  the  cloth, 
to  the  manufacturer  for  the  improved 
rifles  and  bayonets,  the  accoutremente, 
to  the  farmers  for  forage,  for  trains,  and 
for  cavalry  horses?  What  did  itgive  for 
the  blood  of  yo  ur  sons?  That  is  what  they 
gave  (exhibiting  a greenback). 

GREENBACKS. 

That  is  one  of  the  very  things 
that  it  gave.  None  of  these  green- 
backs have  been  issued  since  the  war 
closed,  except  duplicates  to  replace 
worn  out  originals.  That  dollar  green- 
back was  one  of  those  that  it  gave  for 
those  things,  and 

WHAT  IS  A GREENBACK? 

We  cannot  blame  those  men  who  are 
trying  to  understand  a British  system  of 
iihance,  which  is  not  understandable, 
if  they  do  not  understand  our  sys- 
tem. When  so  respectable  a house  as 
G.  P.  Putnam  & Sons,of  New  York,  issues 
a book  of  reference,  in  which  the  defini- 
tion of  greenbacks,  is  given  as  United 
States  notes,  or  “ national  bank  notes.” 
( See  World’s  Progress,  1873,  page 
67.)  Legal  tender  notes  of  the  govern- 
ment, are  alone  known  as  greenbacks. 
Are  greenback  clubs  established  for  the 
purpose  of  advocating  the  perpetuation 
of  the  national  bank  notes  specially?  I 
don’t  think  any  greenback  club  under- 
stands it  in  that  way.  The  greenback  is 
the  legal  tender  obligation  issued  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  direct, 
without  the  intervention  of  any  one 
but  its  own  immediate  servants.  Tlds 
greenback  reads:  “The  United  States 
will  pay  the  bearer  one  dollar.”  That 
obligation  was  issued  for  clothing  and 
munitions  of  war,  and  the  wages,  the 
pittance  received  by  your  boys.  That  is 
an  obligation  to-day  unredeemed.  I am 

fetting  on  dangerous  ground,  am  I not? 

think  not;  unredeemed  and  partially 
repudiated!  When  you  took  that  green- 
back for  your  farm  products,  for  the 
products  of  your  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments, there  was  an  endorsement  on 
the  back  of  it  which  has  been  surrepti- 
tiously erased. 

THE  FIRST  STEP  TOWARD  REPUDIATION. 

There  was  an  endorsement  on  the 
back  of  it  providing  that  it  was  convert- 
ible, at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder,  into 
a six  per  cent,  gold  bearing  bond  of  the 
United  States;  and  when  the  law  was 
repealed— an  unwarranted,  unjust  thing 
— violating  the  contract  which  you 
entered  into  when  you  delivered  that 
forage,  when  vou  delivered  those  horses. 


when  you  delivered  the  transportation 
trains,  the  contract  then  was  that  you 
might  convert  this  into  six  percent,  gold 
bearing  bonds,  that  are  now  worth  a high 
premium  over  gold  in  all  the  markets  of 
the  world;  and  then  the  United  States 
government  passed  an  act  saying,  that 
after  a certain  day,  not  four  months, 
I think,  after  the  passage  of  the  act, 
all  of  those  greenbacks  outstanding, 
all  not  brought  in  for  redemption  at 
that  time  should  no  longer  be  con- 
vertible into  the  six  per  cent,  bonds, 
thereby  making  them  irredeemable.  It 
was  redeemable  before;  it  was  re- 
deemable in  bonds  worth  more  than 
gold.  That  is  what  makes  it  irredeema- 
ble. And  there  was  another  condition 
to  this  contract— you  cannot  honestly 
change  a contract  without  the  consent 
of  both  parties.  There  was  another 
feature  in  the  contract  providing 
that,  as  in  the  bank  deparment  of 
Venice,  if  one  merchant  took  another 
down  to  the  bank  and  said,  “I  owe  you 
one  thousand  marks,  I am  ready  to  pay 
you  in  this  wise,”  Venice  says,  “that  if 
an  individual  citizen  of  Venice  ‘turns 
out’  what  the  government  of  Venice 
owes  him,  it  shall  be  a good  settlement 
of  private  indebtedness,  and  I propose 
to  turn  you  out  a thousand  marks  by 
transferring  it  from  my  credit  to  yours.” 
That  was  a legal  tender.  This  is  a legal 
tender  to-day.  This  (exhibiting  a green- 
back) represents  one  share  of  the  two 
thousand  million  shares  of  debt  incurred 
by  the  United  States  government,  an 
artificial  man  created  by  the  men  that 
were  made  in  God’s  image,  the  people, 
and  so  far  as  it  exists  to-day,  lives  and 
moves  and  has  its  being  in  its  creator, 
the  people.  They  said,  as  in  the  case  of 
Venice,  “to  transfer  government  in- 
debtedness was  a good  settlement 
of  a debt,  that  the  transfer 
would  be  a good  payment,  and 
would  be  a legal  tender,  as  this  was 
a great  and  extensive  country,  and 
every  one  could  not  go  to  a single  office 
as  in  Venice,  with  those  evidences  of 
debt,  convertible  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
holder  into  six  per  cent,  gold  bearing 
bonds,  legal  tender  between  citizens, 
that  the  transfer  of  one  of  those  notes 
should  be  the  transfer  of  the  national 
debt  to  the  amount  designated  upon  the 
note,  that  the  transfer  could  be  made  by 
the  delivery  of  this  greenbak  represent- 
ative of  debt,  and  so  the  business  has 
been  carried  on.” 

THE  SECOND  PROPOSED  STEP  IN  REPUDIATION 

Treat  every  one  with  respect.  Thank 
God  we  still  have  a right— how  long  it 
may  continue  I know  not — but  we  still 
have  a right  to  criticize  the  acts  and  i)i’o- 
posals  of  our  servants,  [applause.)  It 
is  pro])cr  that  when  t))0  chief  magistrate 


5 


Before  the  Illinois  State  Grange. 


of  the  nation  in  hia  official  capacity 
announces  to  the  le^^isiative  branch  of 
the  government  what  he  conceives  to  be 
for  the  good  of  the  people  whose  will  it  is 
supposed  to  manifest,  that  such  papers 
should  be  treated  with  respect,  they 
should  be  carefully  read  by  every  citizen. 
I don’t  know  that  I can  carry  out  my  own 
suggestion  of  reading  the  president’s 
message  to  night,  but  he  says  “I  com- 
mend to  your  attention,  your  earnest 
consideration,  first:  the  repeal  of  so 
much  of  the  legal  tender  act  as  makes 
those  notes  receivable  for  debts  con- 
tracted after  a date  to  be  fixed  in  the  act 
itself,  say  not  later  than  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary 1877.”  Gen.  Grant  is  a great  man,  a 
great  soldier;  whether  he  is  a great 
statesman  we  all  have  the  same  oppor- 
tunity of  judging;  but  from  my  stand- 
point T don’t  think,  he  is  a great  finan- 
cier. No.  [Applause.]  I don’t  think 
he  is  a great  jurist.  Now,  I am  not  going 
into  politics.  But,  gentlemen,  remem- 
ber that  if  you  are  not  already  slaves, 
that  you  have  a right  to  talk  about  the 
acts  and  proposals  of  your  servants. 

1 did  not  come  here  to  make  a political 
speech,  but  I am  exercising  the  right  of 
an  American  citizan  to  consider  the  ef- 
fect of  the  various  clauses  in  the  mes- 
sage of  the  President;  and  if  that  is  ob- 
jectionable I will  stop.  [Cries  of  “go 
on!”  “go  on!”]  I say  that  it  takes  two  to 
make  a bargain ; and  I say  this : that  the 
act  proposed  to  be  passed  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  the 
legal  tender  notes  now  outstanding, 
from  being  used  as  a legal  tender,  is  the 
second  act  of  repudiation.  [Applause.] 
The  first  act  was,  wffiat  i educed  the  nom- 
inal value  of  the  greenback  below  gold. 
If  the  greenback  had  been  always  con- 
vertable  into  six  per  cent,  bonds  it 
would  have  disappeared  long  ago.  They 
would  have  been  owned  by  English 
agents,  converted  into  six  per  cent, 
bonds,  and  carried  across  the  water 
where  the  ordinary  rate  on  such  in- 
vestments as  that  does  not  exceed  three 
per  cent.  Greenbacks  would  have  disap- 
peared long  ago,  and  it  may  be  a good 
thing  that  this  partial  act  of  repudiation 
occurred.  It  has  preserved  to  the  Amer- 
ican people  of  this  day  what  I conceive 
to  be  a great  advance  in  finance.  Yen- 
ice  introduced  the  system  and  practiced 
it  successfully  for  nearly  six  hundred 
years,  that  the  national  debt  should  fur- 
nish the  circulating  medium  among  its 
citizens;  and  to-day  we,  like  Venice,  we 
“inflationists,”  propose  to  return  to  the 
old  system  of  Venice,  so  far  as  we  can,  by 
adapting  it  to  our  present  circumstan- 
ces, [applause,]  a system  during  the 
operation  of  which,  for  nearly  six  hun- 
dred years  there  was  no  panic  and  no  fi- 
nancial crisis;  a system  under  which  the 


paper  money,  consisting  of  book  acc- 
ount, went  to  a premium  of  thirty  per 
cent,  over  gold  coin ; and  branches  had 
to  be  started  in  order  to  receive  the 
gold  coin,  and  then  only  reduced  the 
premium  ten  per  cent,  leaving  the  gov- 
ernment debt  shares  standing  at  twenty 
per  cent,  premium,  and  it  stood  so  for 
centuries.  And  so  the  great  mistress  of 
the  commmercial  world,  who  commanded 
the  commerce  of  the  east,  thus  car- 
ried on  its  business  until  one  of  Napo- 
leon’s marshals  went  into  Venice  and 
seized  the  books.  That  is  what  he  got; 
he  got  books ; the  government  debt  was 
beyond  reach,  and  only  the  account 
of  what  Venice  owed  to  certain  of 
its  citizens  was  seized.  But  Venice 
was  in  some  degree,  at  least,  what 
may  be  compared  to  immorality. 
That  city  was  occupied;  its  dwel- 
lings were  occupied;  its -treasures  that 
were  found,  were  confiscated;  but  Venice 
still  lives;  and  Venice,  when  the  wave  of 
war  had  passed  over,  stood  up  again,  and 
paid  its  debt  Florence  carried  out  the 
same  system  as  the  branch  of  the  bank 
of  Venice,  with  a government  loan  de- 
partment, and  was  prosperous,  and  Flor- 
ence for  a long  time  was  the  commer- 
cial metropolis  of  Italy.  Genoa  had  the 
same  system  and  the  same  experience. 
The  bank  of  Amsterdam  exists  to  day. 
It  has  no  promise  out  without  something 
equivalent  behind  it,  and  therefore  they 
are 

NEVER  AFRAID  OF  A RUN, 

and  they  never  suspend.  The  bank  of 
Hamburg  is  to-day  carried  on  on  the 
same  principle,  of  having  the  things 
promised  behind  their  promise,  and  it 
was  only  181  years  ago,  that  the  king  of 
England  was  “ hard  *up,”  and  some  mer- 
chants got  together  and  said  “ if  you 
will  give  us  the  privilege  of  issuing  all 
the  paper  promises  we  please  and  have 
the  monopoly  of  so  doing  within 
London  and  a circuit  of  sixty- 

five  miles,  we  will  len'd  you 

£1,200,000  in  coin.  And  it  was  so 
arranged,  and  up  to  1844  tl^e 

BANK  OF  ENGL  ADD 

issued  all  the  promises  it  chose 
to  issue,  and  the  only  wayto  know 
whether  it  had  any  coin  was  to 
try  by  presenting  the  notes;  and 
the  people  tried,  and  three  years  af- 
ter the  Bank  of  England  was  born  it  sus- 
pended specie  payment.  I want  to  be 
accurate;  I want  to  give  the  dates.  I 
think  I said  that  the  Bank  of  England 
was  established  181  years  ago.  It  was  in 
1694.  I said  that  it  suspended  specie  pay- 
ment in  three  years ; it  suspended  in  1697, 
just  three  years  afterwards.  It 

SUSPENDND  AT  VARIOUS  TIMES, 

but  it  suspended  in  1797,  and  remained 


^ Speech  of  Sydney  Myevs,  Esq., 


suspended  officially,  and  for  the  most 
time  practically  from  1797  to  1823— twenty 
six  years,  though  during  the  last  three 
years  it  did  pay  some  coin  when  it 
felt  like  it  and  had  it  to  spare.  It  was  a 
matter  of  option,  the  law  permitting 
it  to  suspend  until  1823.  parliament 
repealed  the  Eesumption  Act  eleven 
times,  and  finally  the  bankjresumed  specie 
payments,  and  in  1825,  two  years  af- 
ter officially  resuming,  it  suspended 
specie  payments  again,  and  like  an- 
other blind  Sampson,  tore  down  the 
columns  of  the  temple  of  British  com- 
merce, and  scattered  devastation  and 
ruin  throughout  the  land,  among  the 
people,  among  the  women,  and  among 
the  helpless  children.  How  did  it  tear 
down  the  cemmerce?  By  trying  to  avoid 
suspension,  by  contracting  the  currency, 
by  breaking  the  merchants  in  forcing 
them  suddenly  to  pay  their  loans.  It  did 
not  suspend  in  1839 ; but  it  went  to  Baring 
Brothers,  bankers,  private  capitalists, 
and  asked  them  to  save  the  credit  of 
the  great  Bank  of  lEngiand  and  the  Brit- 
ish nation.  Baring  Brothers  gave  them 
what  some  call  a Kiting  bill.  They 
drew  on  their  Paris  correspondent 
for  £3,000,000.  The  Paris  correspondent 
accepted  the  bill,  and  the  Bank  of  France 
cashed  it,  thus  saving  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land. In  1847,  three  years  after  the  Act  of 
1844  was  passed,  under  which  the  bank  is 
now  acting  it  “squatted”  when  only 
£1,994,000  in  coin  was  left  in  the  vaults. 
In  1857— understand  every  one  of  those 
dates  indicates 

A FINANCIAL  OBI3IS, 

a stoppage  of  all  commerce  and  business, 
a breaking  up  of  the  merchants  and  man- 
ufacturers, and  great  distress  among  the 
peeple— in  1857  the  crisis  reduced  their 
cash  to  £1,462,000.  In  1847  and  1857  and 
again  in  1866,  the  time  of  the  great  Over- 
land and  Gurney  panic,  then  they  had 
only  £3,000,000  left,  and  in  each  of 
those  cases  which  have  occurred  since 
1844,  and  the  passage  of  the  “ Bank  Act,” 
the  government  has  stepped  in  to  relieve 
the  bank,  and  has  said: 

“ THE  ACT  OF  1844 

is  suspended.”  And  what  does  it  mean 
when  it  says  that  the  Act  of  1844  is  sus- 
pended? Previous  to  the  Act  of  1844  the 
Bank  of  England  was  allowed  to  issue 
to  any  amount  their  promissory  notes, 
called  bank  notes,  without  restriction 
of  any  kind.  I will  not  be  unfain  They 
had  some  capital  paid  in,  but  it  was  prin- 
cipally, if  not  wholly,  invested  in  govern- 
ment debts,  that  is,  the  government  owed 
them.  There  were  no  bonds  for  it;  there 
were  no  consols  for  it.  It  was  a book 
account,  and  it  was  understood  that  that 
debt  should  stand,  and  never  be  de- 
manded by  the  Bank  of  England  as  long 
as  it  exercised  tfie  privileges  of  its 


charter— the  issue  of  those  notes,  and 
the  exclusive  issue,  and  the  monopoiy 
of  the  issue  in  London  and  the  circuit  of 
sixty  - five  miles.  The  Bank  Act  of 
1844  authorized  Fiduciary  issues  to 
the  amount  of  £15,000,000,  but  if  the 
Bank  issued  any  more  than  £15,000,000, 
then  it  must  have  in  its  issue  department 
—for  the  bank  was  separated  into  issue 
and  discount  departments  by  the  Act  of 
1844— dollar  for  dollar,  pound  for  pound  in 
coin,  either  silver  or  gold,  the  proportions 
being  fixed  by  law.  It  must  have  sil- 
ver or  gold  for  all  over  £15,000,000 
sterling,  but  for  the  £15,000,000  ster- 
ling it  need  not  have  any  gold  or  sil- 
ver. This  issue  was  called  fiduciary. 
At  these  periods,  in  1847, 1857  and  1866.  the 
Act  by  which  they  -were  limited  to  £15,- 
000,000  of  issue  without  gold  behind  it 
was  suspended,  and  they  were  permitted 
to  issue  to  any  amount,  the  same  as  they 
were  before  the  Act  was  passed.  At  the 
date  I have  before  me  tiie  banks  of 
Ireland  had  £7,000,000  circulation;  the 
bank  of  Scotland  £5,000,000 ; and  the  coun- 
try banks,  what  is  called  country  banks, 
had  enough  more,witli  that  of  Ireland  and 
Scotland  and  the  £25,000,000  circulation 
of  the  Bank  of  England  (£15,000,000  fidu- 
ciary unsecured,  and  £10,000,000  with  gold 
behind  it)  to  make  £43,000,000  circulation, 
£30,000,000  of  which  is  “Fiduciarv.”  Now 
the  banks  of  Scotland  and  the  banks  of 
Ireland  by  the  Act  of  1845,  whereas  pre- 
viously they  had  been  allowed  to  issue 
notes  to  any  extent— as  George  Smith 
used  to  issue  them  up  there  in  Chicago, 
(and  he  understood  .the  way  of  doing 
business  on  the  Scotch  plan,  he  was  a 
Scotchman  and  a good  banker  too,though 
his  system  was  bad,  and  a bad  system 
well  managed  is  better  than  a good  sys- 
tem managed  by  ignorant  men  that  don  t 
know  their  business);  the  Scotch  have 
well  managed  their  bad  system,  much 
better  than  the  English  have— I say  that 
what  the  Scotch,  Irish,  and  private  and 
joint  stock  banks  had  in  circulation  up 
to  1845,  the  average  being  taken  for  four 
weeks  previous  to  the  act  going  into 
force,  that  amount  of  circulation  they 
were  allowed  to  continue  to  issue  with- 
out any  restriction  whatever,  but  over 
and  above  that  the  banks  of  Ireland 
and  Scotland,  and  the  private  banks  were 
to  keep  pound  for  pound  in  coin  behind 
the  excessive  issues  which  are  called  the 
covered  issues,  and  the  other  is  calied  the 
uncovered  or  fiduciary  issue. ' Previous 
to  the  Act  of  1844,  anybody  could  issue 
as  many  notes  as  he  chose;  there  \yas 
no  law  prohibiting  anybody  from  issuing 
notes  to  circulate  as  bank  notes  in  the 
place  of  money  if  the  people  would  take 
them,  and  all  those  that  were  issuing  and 
had  notes  in  circulation  at  that  time, 
1844-6,  are  to-day  permitted  to  continue 
their  issues— fiduciary  issues  — in  the 


Before  the  lUinois  State  Grdngt,  f 


same  way.  But,  I repeat, wishing  to  make 
myself  thoroughly  understood,  over  and 
above  what  they  had  out  for  an  average 
of  four  weeks  previous  to  the  passage  of 
the  Act  of  1845,  they  must  nave  gold 
behind  it.  and  for  this  amount  only. 
That  is  the  English  system,  the  British 
system.  It  is  generally  understood  in 
this  country  that  under  the  English  sys- 
tem every  bank  note  has  a gold  dollar  be- 
hind it.  This  is  a grave  error.  There  are 
£43,000,000  of  notes  in  circulation,  and 
only  £13,000,000  in  gold  to  redeem  them 
with.  This  for  all  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  They  had  at  a recent  date  forty- 
three  millions  of  circulating  notes,  thirty 
millions  of  which  was  fiduciary,  with 
thirteen  millions  of  coin  to  redeem  forty- 
three  ‘millions  of  notes.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  they  can  not  redeem 
forty-three  millions  of  notes  with  thir- 
teen millions  of  coin;  and  whenever  the 
demand  is  made, (and  the  demand  is  made 
on  an  average  interval  of  from  five  to 
ten  years  in  England),  they  suspend  and 
proQuee  a financial  crisis.  I presume  I 
have  said  enough  with  regard  to  the 
English  system.  All  those  that  are  inter- 
ested in  the  subject  should  read  the  re- 
cent English  works  upon  the  subject, 
and  they  will  find  that  I h§,ve  not  mis- 
etate'd  anything;  and  if  they  will  look  in 
the  Chicago  Inter  Ocean,  this  morning, 
Dec.  14,  they  will  find  that  though 
Prof.  Bonamy  Price  of  Oxford, 
England,  kindly  criticised  an  ad- 
dress like  the  one  I am  making  to  you 
to-night  (almost  entirely  without  notes, 
and  depending  on  memory),  yet  you  see 
that  I have  been  able,  I think,  to  sustain 
all  the  positions  that  I took  in  that  ad- 
dress by  quoting  from  Professor  Bon- 
amy Price’s  own  latest  work.  I merely 
say  this  to  impress  upon  you  the  fact 
that  I am  not  making  wild  assertions. 
This  is  a matter  that  I am  deeply  inter- 
ested in.  I feel  the  importance  of  the  sub- 
ject. I feel  that  there  is  no  satisfactory 
system  of  finance  in  the  world,  and  that 
here  in  the  United  States,  growing  out 
of  our  war  experience,  we  have  the 
germs  of  what  with  some  modifications 
may  be  easily  made,  almost  a perfect 
system. 

BOND  REDEMPTION, 

If  you  will  make  the  greenback  to-day 
-convertible  into  a bond  bearing  six  per 
cent,  interest,  it  will  command  more  than 
a dollar  in  gold.  U.  S.  6 per  cent,  bonds 
are  worth  in  London  112  in  gold  to-day. 
If  you  will  make  the  greenbacks  in  cir- 
culation to-day  convertible  into  a bond 
bearing  five  per  cent,  gold  interest,  you 
will  make  them  worth  more  than  par  in 
gold,  because  five  hundred  millions  of 
those  five  per  cent,  bonds  have  been  sold 
abroad  for  over  par  in  gold  within  the 
last  two  years.  If  you  would  make  the 


greenbacks  convertible  to-day  into  a five 
per  cent  gold  bearing  bond,  the  capital- 
ists of  Europe  would  send  over  whatever 
they  could  gather  up  to  take  your  green- 
backs, take  them  to  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States  and  convert  them  into 
gold  bearing  bonds,  and  take  them 
abroad,  as  they  have  taken  the  balance 
of  them,  and  so^  more  completely  place 
us  in  the  condition  of  Ireland,  sending 
our  yearly  rent  abroad  across  the  water 
to  our  non-resident  landlords  or  propri- 
etors. The  foreign  owners  of  our  bonds 
draw  rent  from  every  farm  and  every 
factory,  but  don’t  spend  their  income 
here,  and  that  is  one  of  the  influences  at 
work  to  keep  us  in  poverty.  Our  bonds 
should  be  owned  at  home. 

THREE  PER  CENT.  INTERCONVERTIBLE  BONDS. 

Make  your  greenbacks  convertible 
into  a bond  bearing  three  per  cent, 
gold  interest,  and  you  place  them  on  a 
par,  at  least,  with  the  the  British  con- 
sol which  bears  three  per  cent,  gold 
interest;  and  if  our  whole  debt  of 
two  thousand  millions  was  placed  at 
the  same  rate  that  the  British  debt  is 
placed  at,  three  per  cent,  interest,  it 
would  only  take  sixty  millions  of  dollars 
a year  to  pay  all  the  interest  on  our 
national  debt,  while  we  are  collecting 
now  every  year,  and  even  in  these  harci 
times,  not  to  speak  of  Internal  rev- 
enue and  other  sources  of  income,  at 
our  custom  houses  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  millions  a year  gold; 
more  than  twice  as  much  as  it  would  cost 
to  pay  the  interest  on  our  national  debt 
at  three  per  cent,  gold,  which  is  the  rate 
at  which  the  government  of  England 
places  its  immense  debt.  We  have  been 
to  school,  some  of  us.  They  used  to  call 
it 

THE  RULE  OF  THREE 

when  we  went  to  school : now  they  call  it 
simple  proportion  (laughter),  sim- 
ple proportion,  and  now  if  any 
of  you  remember  about  the  rule 
of  three,  we  will  make  the  pro- 
portion we  are  after-— as  three  per  cent, 
gold  interest  upon  a British  consol  is  to 
ninety-four  gold  in  London,  its  price  to- 
day so  is  three  per  cent,  gold  interest  on 
an  American  interconvertible  bond  to 
ninety-four  gold  in  London  its  price  to- 
day. That  is  fair,  is  it  not?  You  have 
that  common  factor  of  gold,  that  is  the 
reason  I put  gold  in  there.  I want  a 
common  factor  by  which  we  can  measure 
the  value  of  our  bonds  as  compared  with 
the  value  of  the  bonds  and  the  currency 
of  any  other  nation.  That  is  what  I call  a 

SPECIE  BASIS. 

That  is  to  say,  a three  per  cent,  inter- 
convertible bond  or  certificate  would  be 
worth  94  gold  in  London.  We  don’t  want 
it  to  be  at  par  in  London.  If  it  was  worth 


S Speech  oj  Sydney  Myenf,  Esq.f 


pur  in  London  they  -would  have,  them  all 
away  from  us.  VVe  don’t  want  them  at 
par  in  London,  but  we  have  a little 
point  in  connection  with  these  plans  to 
make  them  worth  par  in  the  United 
States,  though  they  may  not  be  worth 
par  inffjondon,  to  make  them  worth  more 
here  than  they  are  abroad' by  their  being 
convertible  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder 
into  (exhibiting  the  greenbacks)  these 
little  non-interest  bearing  bonds,  which 
are  yet,  thank  God.  legal  tender  for  the 
payment  of  individual  indebtedness  (ap- 
plause), and  which  we  would  make  con- 
vertible into  our  own  three  per  cent, 
bonds  or  certificates.  Therefore: 

PROVIDE  BY  ACT  OF  CONGRESS, 

For  the  convertibility  and  revertibility  of  United 
States  legal-tender  notes  and  gold-bearing  certificates  at  sub- 
treasuries  or  designated  depositories  in  aU  the  recognized 
financial  centers  (see  section.  31  National  Bank  Act),  in 
sums  of  ten  thousand  dollars  ($10,000)  or  multiples  thereof, 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder;  certificates  to  be  revertable  at 
pleasure  into  legal-tender  notes,  at  places  of  issue,  to  bear 
gold  interest  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  ($1.00)  per  day  on  ten 
thousand  dollars  (equal  to  aboitt  three  per  cent,  per  annum. 
If  dies  non  and  the  day  of  presentation  for  reversion  bo  ex- 
cluded) i these  certificates  to  be  available  for  all  the  purposes 
for  which  three  per  cent,  certificates  were  available  (see  Act 
March  2, 1807). 

Said  United  States  notes,  temporarily  retired  to  remain  in 
the  sub-treasuiy  or  depository,  where  received,  until  demand 
on  presentation  of  certificates  issued  at  said  sub-treasury  or 
depository,  from  each  of  which  reports  of  expansion  and 
contraction  shall  be  forwarded  daily  to  the  United  States 
Treasury,  both  by  mail  and  by  telegraph,  and  said  reports 
shall  be  open  to  the  inspection  of  representatives  of  the 
press. 

You  want  specie  basis.  There 
is  a specie  basis  in  this  plan.  Do  you 
weigh  your  hay  by  piling  on  fifty-six 
pound  iron  weights  until  you  balance 
down  the  ton  of  hay  with  a ton  of  iron? 
Do  you  weigh  those  cars  at  the  railroad 
stations  by  piling  enough  iron  on  the 
other  side^of  the  scale  to  equal  the  weight 
of  the  car?  You  gave  that  up  long  ago  and 
introduced  the  Fairbank’s  scale  for  mea- 
suring weights.  Now  we  propose  to  intro- 
duce the  Fair-bank’s  scale  principle  for 
measuring  values,  and  the  interest— the 
littlo'pea  on  the  end  of  th£  steel-yard,  will 
weigh  so  accurately  that  a sixpence  will 
turn  the  scale,  every  time  (applause).  I 
am  one  of  your  inflationists.  I am  a rag- 
money  man,  but  I do  not  know  any  place 
on  the  civilized  world  to-day  where  they 
are  not  using  rag-money;  and  the  ques- 
tion is  whether  it  shall  be 

THE  people’s  RAG  MONEY, 
or  whether  it  shall  be  the  rag- money 
furnished  by  a class  and  rented  to  the 
people  at  a high  rate.  The  rag  babyl— 
some  of  them  are  filled  with  saw  dust; 
but  let  us  have  an  honest  rag  baby,  that 
is,  good  paper  rags  all  the  way  through 
(laughter  and  applause).  Now  we  have 
talked  about  the  English  rag-baby 
let  us  talk  about  our  nearest  neighbor, 

THE  CANADIAN  RAG  BABY. 

The  banks  of  Canada  furnish  the 


largest  i>art  of  the  circulating  medium, 
but  the  Canadians  are  getting  to  have 
their  eyes  open.  Our  Kaiiuck  ueighbors 
have  an  issue  of  ten  millions  of  green- 
backs over  there — te7i  millions  of  green^ 
backs,  or  dominion  notes— and  if  any  of 
you  have  traveled  through  Canada  much 
you  have  handled  them,  and  know  that 
you  could  not  at  this  distance  (showing 
his  greenback)  tell  them  from  one  of  our 
rag  babies.  Ten  millions  of  greenbacks 
issued  by  the  Canadian  government.  It 
is  true;  I want  to  be  fair  about  it;  they 
have  got  two  millions  of  gold.  Half  of 
it  is  in  Toronto,  and  the  other  half  of  it 
is  in  Montreal.  They  keep  one  million 
in  Montreal  and  one  million  in  Toronto 
to  redeem  the  ten  millions  of  greenbacks 
with  (laughter),  and  then  they  tell  these 
banks  “You  must  keep  one-fifth  of  your 
reserve  in  our  Dominion  greenbacks. 
I am  not  so  sure  of  the  details,  and  I am 
going  to  reserve  the  right  to  look  up 
authorities  at  my  leisure  on  this,  but  if 
I am  not  mistaken,  last  fall  there  was  a 
little  financial  flurry  over  in  Canada.  It 
did  not  come  out  very  plainly  what  was 
the  matter, but  from  what  the  newspapers 
said,  I take  it  that  there  was  a heavy  ex- 
port of  gold,  just  the  same  as  there  was 
from  California  immediately  before  the 
Bank  of.  California  died  for  want  of 
financial  breath,  and  they  were  be- 
ginning to  breathe  hard,  and  the 
atmosphere,  financially,  was  thin  in 
Canada  on  account  of  the  amount 
of  “specie”  drawn  to  England  — the 
amount  of  gold.  The  specie  basis  was 
being  cut  away  from  under  rho  bottom, 
and  they  wanted  to'  play  sharp  on 
the  Doniinion  government;  so  they 
sent  in,  through  somebody  else,  I sup- 
pose—no,  I presume  it  was  all  done 
fairly,  and  the  Canadian  banks  had 
the  right  to  demand  gold  on  the  prom- 
ise of  the  government  to  pay  coin. 
The  government  had  two  millions  of 
coin,  and  the  banks  thought  they  might, 
as  well  have  it.  They  could  not  ship  thei 
government  notes  abroad — and  that  is 
the  beauty  of  them — so  they  called  on 
the  agents  of  government  at  Montreal 
and  Toronto  to  shell  out  the  coin ; and 
the  agents  telegraphed  up  to  Ottawa  to 
the  Minister  of  Finance,  as  they  call  him 
there— that  the  gold  was  running  out, and 
the  greenbacks  were  comiiig.in ; so  he  tel- 
egraphed down  to  the  proper  agents  ot 
government,  who  deposit  Custom  House 
money,  and  revenue  money  with  some 
of  the  banks,  to  draw  their  checks  od 
the  banks,  for  the.  government  de 
posits.  Well,  the  deposits  amounted  to 
a good  deal  more  than  the  Dominion 
notes  held  bv  the  banks ; and  the  banks 
said,  “ If  yoii  will  let  up,  we  will,  ano 
we  will  get  our  notes  in  by  squeezing 
the  merchants  and  compelling  them  t/ 


Before  t)ie  Illinois  State  Grange.  y 


pay  their  notes/*  Hence  recent  reports 
of  commercial  failures  in  Canada, 
.pliaughter  and  applause.] 

That  is  the  way  I understand  it.  I don’t 
mean  to  say  it  is  so,  because  they  have 
not  told  me,  and  I don’t  believe  they 
will,  but  I suspect  it.  [Laughter.]  Now 
they  have  fractional  currency  there,  but 
they  have  not  the  inter- convertible 
idea.  But  our  fractional  currency  is  in- 
ter-convertible with  greenbacks,  and 
hence  our  fractional  currency  is  never 
either  redundant  or  deficient.  Lately, 
however,  the  Solons  at  Washington  have 

fot  into  the  notion  that  we,  the  people, 
o not  want  our  fractional  currency  any 
more ; that  we  want  silver.  The  people 
never  found  that  out.  They  must  have 
got  it  down  at  Washington,  via  New  York. 
Wall  street  is,  to  a great  degree,  sim- 
ply an  agency,  a foreign  agency.  The 
interests  of  New  York  are  more  thor- 
oughly identified  with  Europe,  whose 
factor  it  is,  than  with  the  interior  of 
this  great  country,  for  which  they 
furnish  an  entrepot.  The  American 
people]  have  all  left  Wall  street.  [Great 
apifiause.]  Now  that  place  down  there  is 
very  near  Washington,  and  they  have  one 
of  the  lightning  trains  running  to  carry 
the  New  York  papers  into  Pennsylvania 
and  squelch  all  the  local  dailies.  New 
Yorkers  run  down  so  quickly  from  New 
^York  to  Washington  on  the  lightning 
strain  that  they  are  in  the  lobby  of  Con- 
fess almost  all  the  time.  They  take 
jbreakfast  in  New  York,  spend  the  day  in 
.-the  lobby,  and  get  back  to  New  York  to 
dinner.  You  are  so  far  away  you  cannot 
look  out  for  western  interests,  and  I am 
afraid  you  don’t  send  men  down  there 
that  are  posted.  Why  don’t  you  send 
ijsomebody  down  there  that  is  “posted”  re- 
[liregarding  American  interests?  (Laugh- 
ter.)  The  bullionists  manage  that 
:hing  down  there  and  they  are  try- 
' ng  to  do  away  with  that  system  of 
Tactional  currency,  because  it  is  such 
.1  splendid  illustration  of  the  practibility 
;)f  the  inter-convertible  bond,  Now  the 
^ssue  authorized  (of  fractional  currency) 
vas  fifty  million  dollars,  and  there  never 
vas  any  inflation  . There  never  was  anv 
mfiation  of  fractional  currency,  for  the 
people  never  took  any  more  than  they 
wanted  to  use,  (laughter)  and  the  highest 
hey  ever  took  out,  and  that  ever  was 
'^as  forty- three  millions  of  dollars, 
hhey  had  a chance  to  get  seven  mil- 
Lons  more  if  they  had  any  greenbacks 
'0  give  for  them,  and  wanted  them. 
k.nybo^  can  go  to  the  sub-traasury  and 
ay.  Here  is  a five  dollar  greenback: 
ive  me  five  dollars  in  fractional  curren- 
there  “shells”  it  right 
ut.  .Well,  if  you  are  doing  a grocery 
usiness,  or  keeping  a pea-nut  stand,  or 
omething  of  that  kind,  and  get  all  small 
•actional  currency  and  you  take  it  right 


to  the  sub  - treasury  and  say,  “I  have 
too  much  fractional  currency,  give  me  a 
five  dollar  greenback and  they  take  it  in 
and  give  you  greenbacks.  That  is  the  in- 
ter-convertible idea.  There  it  is,  a per- 
fect illustration  of  it.  At  works  beautiful- 
ly, and  what  do  we  want  of  silver?  We 
can  make  our  change  with  fractional  cur- 
rency. What  is  the  use  of  tinkering  with 
a machine  when  it  is  running  well.  Is 
that  the  way  you  do  with  your  watch? 
(Laughter.)  If  you  want  your  watch 
tinkered  with  you  get  a watch  maker  to 
tinker  with  it ; you  don’t  get  a blacksmith, 
(applause.)  We  want  honest  money;  we 
want  a currency  that  is  absolutely  con- 
vertible at  all  times  into  something  that 
is  equivalent  to  specie,  and  better  than 
specie,  and  that  never  can  give  out.  (great 
applause.)  For  myself,  I am  in  favor  of 

SPECIE  BASIS,  NOT  SPECIE  REDEMPTION. 

Specie  redemption  is  impracticable;  it 
has  been  thoroughly  tested  and  proved 
by  many  generations  of  able  financiers, 
that  you  cannot  redeem  one  hundred  dol- 
lars unless  you  have  one  hundred  dollars 
to  redeem  with.  (Applause.)  And  we 
dont  want  to  walk  around  in  that  same 
old  track,  like  a blind  horse  in  a bark- 
mill.  (Laughter.)^  And  we  have  tried  it 
often  enough.  We  don’t  want  to  resume 
it  any  more. 

SUMNER  ON  FINANCE. 

We  have  had  suspensions  of  specie 
payments,  general  financial  crises,  and 
commercial  and  industrial  collapses,  in 
this  country,  ten  timfes  during  the  last 
fitty-nine  years,  and  :if  all  financial  wis- 
dom has  been  exhausted,  as  Professor 
Sumner,  of  Yale  College  intimates  in 
his  history  of  American  Currency,  we 
are  badly  off.  What  would  Prof.  Sumner 
have  said  to  James  Watt  or  Prof.  Morse? 
Would  he  have  told  them  that  there  is 
nothing  new  to  be  discovered?  He  don’t 
tell  those  Englishmen  what  is  the  difler- 
ence  between  a greenback  and  a national 
bank  note.  He  don’t  tell  anything  about 
the  system  the  New  York  Clearing  House 
adopts  in  times  of  panic,  and  which,  with 
some  naodifleations,  will  be  a great  ad- 
vance in  finance — a means  of  quietly 
swapping  off  indebtedness  without  dis- 
turbing business. 

Prof.  Sumner  does  not  describe  the 
three  per  cent,  certificate  which  were 
issued  to  the  amount  of  eighty  millions, 
and  worked  beautifully  in  giving  elas- 
ticity to  our  currency, and  how  the  law  was 
ignorantly  repealed  which  authorized 
the  issue  of  three  per  cent,  certificates, 
authorizing  greenbacks  to  be  taken  to 
the  sub-treasury  and  three  per  cent,  cer- 
tificates taken  out,  and  then  the  three 
per  cent,  certificates  returned  and  the 
interest  paid  up  to  the  time  they  were 
returned  and  greenbacks  taken  out  for 
their  face.  This  is  the  system  which  we 


10 


^^-peech  of  Sydney  Myers,  Esq., 


now  propose  to  Restore,  perfect,  and  ex* 
tend— a system  thoroughl}^  tested  and 
proved  to  be  good.  He  says  nothing  about 
that  law  or  its  repeal.  He  does  not  say  any 
thing  about  the  fact  that  after  its  repeal, 
the  last  element  of  elasticity  having  been 
taken  from  our  financial  system,  that  it 
became  necessary  for  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  on  his  own  responsibility 
and  without  authority  of  law  to  go  to 
New  York  and  lend  five  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  the  banks  of  that  city  after  the 
Chicago  fire,  in  order  to  prevent  a gen- 
eral financial  and  commercial  crash 
in  the  country.  He  says  nothing  with 
regard  to  the  fact  that  after  the  Boston 
fire  the  same  thing  was  done  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  to  prevent  a cri- 
sis. He  tells  nothing  of  our  fractional 
currency  in  his  history  of  American  cur- 
rency. Is  not  his  history  like  the  play  of 
Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out?  It  is  not 
strange  that  there  should  be  so  much 
ignorance  upon  the  subject  of  finance 
when  writers  who  are  college  professors 
and  professed  scientists  dogmatise  upon 
it  by  making  false  and  arbitrary  de- 
ductions froni  insufficient  facts. 


SAFETY  VAX.VE  AND  GAUGE. 

Now,  if  you  have  a nice  city  that  you  don’t  want 
to  iiave  bivrned  up,  you  establish  water-works,  don’t  you  ? 
and  you  try  to  provide  a reserve  of  water — a reservoir 
Bomewhere  so  that  in  case  of  a big  fii'e  like  the  Chicago  or 
Boston  fire,  you  need  not  call  in  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury  to  come  all  the  way  from  Washington  and  fur- 
nish water 

TO  PUX.OUT  THE  FUtE, 

as  he  did  as  to  the  financial  features  of  the  case  after  the  Bos- 
ton and  the  Chicago  fire,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  pan- 
ic of  1873,  after  long  labor  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  of 
New  York  where  the  moust^  was  brought  forth,  but 
not  imtil  too  late  to  prevent  the  crisis  in  1873,  from  the 
effects  of  which  you  are  now  suffering.  I kiv,  let  there  be 
a financial  reservoir ; restore  that  forty-four  miUions  to  the 
treasmy  that  Secretary  McCulloch  retired,  or  keep  in  the 
treasury  those  millions  of  greenbacks  that  have  been  r etired 
during  the  last  nine  months  and  a half,  to  be  burned  in  t he 
treasury  building  at  Washington.  Restore  forty  miUions  of 
greenbacks  to  the  reserve  where  they  cannot  be  reached  ex- 
cept under  the  provisions  of  such  a law  as  is  suggested,  and 
in  that  law  recognize  the  fact  that  this  is  a great  country, 
great  in  extent,  great  In  commerce,  great  in  manufactures, 
great  in  agriculture  and  great  in  having  a people  who  are 
capable  of  understanding  as  to  their  interest,  and  are  om- 
nipotent, humanly  speaking,  to  command.  [Applause.] 
Enact  such  a law  as  this: 

[FtxiBiEiTY.  Safety  Valve  to  relieve  extraordinary  pres- 
sure, and  to  relieve  the  Secretary  of  tlio  Treasury  from  on- 
erous and  undue  responsibility,  and  a Gauge  to  measure 
the  actual  demand  for  more  cnrrency.] 

1.  To  permit  any  holder  of  ten  tlrousand  dollars,  or  mul- 
tiples thereof,  in  any  of  the  Gold-bearing  Bonds  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  to  retire  the  same  temporarily,  at  the  Snb-Trotis- 
urics  or  designated  depositories  in  New  York,  San  Francisco, 
New  Orleans  or  Chicago,  under  regulations  to  bo  made  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  receive  an  amount  of 


United  States  legal-tender  notes  equal  to  the  face  of  saui 
bonds  temporarily  retired;  and  upon  presentation  of  alike 
sum  in  United  States  notes  at  the  place  where  said  bonds 
were  temporarily  retired,  to  receive  the  said  bonds,  or  their 
equivilent  in  kind,  less  the  Interest  which  ‘>nai/  have  accrued 
during  the  time  that  the  said  bonds  were  temporarily  retired. 

And  provide,  further,  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
be  required  to  hold  in  reserve  United  States  legal-tender 
notes  to  the  amoimt  of  forty  millions  of  dollars  (.$40,000,000) 
to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  temporarily  retiriirg  United 
States  bond.s  as  aforesaid,  but  the  said  notes  shall  not  be  us- 
ed for  any  other  purpose,  nor  shall  the  whole  amount  of  the 
United  States  legal-tender  notes,  including  those  which  may 
at  any  time  be  held  in  the  United  States  Treasury,  sub 
treasuries  and  depositories,  exceed  four  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  ($400,000,000),  until  expressly  authorized  by  law, 

The  financial  centre  of  this  country  is  near  the  centre 
of  its  population,  not  at  the  port  at  which  it  receives 
a few  goods  from  a foreign  country,  and  from  w’hich 
it  ships  a small  percentage  of  its  surplu.s  products.  Provide 
that  forty  millions  of  dollars  shall  be  accessable  at  New  Or- 
leans, San  Francisco,  Chicago  or  New  York,  in  this  wise : 
that  any  person,  white,  black  or  Chinese,  who  shall  come  to 
any  one  of  the  sub-treasuries  in  either  of  these  four  cities 
with  United  States  government  bonds,  four,  five  or  six  per 
cent,  bonds,  in  round  sums  so  that  it  wont  make  too  much 
labor,  too  much  account  keeping,  and  have  the  right  to  say 
'to  the  agent  of  the  government,  here  are  ten  thousand 
dollars,  say,  of  your  five  per  cent,  gold  bearing  bonds.  Cuj 
rency  is  so  scarce  that  I am  willing  to  take  your  non-inter 
est  bearing  bonds,  called  green  backs,  and  forego  the  inter 
est  on  these  bonds  until  I bring  these  green-backs  back  and 
replace  them  in  the  reserve,  and  that  is  a good  trade  fo> 
the  government,  as  it  will  save  five  per  cent,  on  so  much  debt 
I am  not  going  with  my  bonds  that  bear  five  per  cent.  goU 
interest  to  get  green-backs  which  don’t  bear  any  interest  un 
less  I am  going  to  pay  them  out  and  put  the  currency  into  th' 
uuancial  circulation  of  the  country  and  thereby  benefit  tht' 
v/hole  community;  and  therefore  ]ust  as  soon  as  times  ar 
easier,  and  the  man  I lent  these  green-backs  to  comes  back 
and  says,  “ I am  ready  to  pay  that  note;”  I take  th<‘  green 
backs  and  I carry  them  back  to  the  sub- treasurer,  and 
Bay  “you  may  give  me  my  bonds,  1 will  take  the  interest  o: 
them  henceforth  for  a while ; you  may  cut  off  the  cupons  fo 
as  long  m they  have  been  in  your  hands.’"  Now  that  is  : 
gauge  to  measure  the  actual  demand  for  more  ciurency.  I 
you  have  a steam-engine,  how  do  you  know  how  muc 
w-ater  is  in  the  boiler  T You  try  the  gauge  and  then  yo 
will  know;  you  don't  guess;  you  don’t  want  to  travel  with  av 
engineer  who . guesses  how  much  water  is  in  the  boiler 
and  how  much  more  or  less  is  required ; I don’t  want  t 
travel  with  any  such  engineer  as  that;  I want  to  travo 
with  an  engineer  who  has  a gauge  to  his  boiler  and  know 
how  much  water  be  has  by  actual  test.  Now  this  is  you 
currency  gauge,  for  if  during  a long  period  much  of  the 
forty  millions  is  out,  it  will  show  that  the  iKmpIo  wb 
have  relieved  the  demand  for  more  currency  are  sacriflein 
individually  their  five  per  cent.interest  to  the  general  goo-i 
which  is  doing  more  than  their  share,  and  therofoi-e  it  ind 
cates  that  the  country  can  absorb  more  currency  withoi 


inflation.  [Applause.]  * u „ 

In  the  Cornish  mines  they  had  a boy  to  handle  tl 


throttle  valve  of  their  steam  engine.  The  Secretary  of  t) 
TreaBui"y  is  comparable  to  that  Cornish  boy.  According 
his  judgment  when  ho  thinks  he  wants  nwe  steam,  . 


Before  the  Illinois  State  Grange. 


n 


t-ijons  the  valve  and  the  piston  goes  up,  and  he  says  “well, 
after  a little  I guess  I will  let  her  go  down.”  (Applause.) 
And  he  does  it  all  by  hand.  There  was  ano:>her  steam  engine 
' attended  by  a boy.  He  would  open  the  throttle  valve  and  let 
on  more  steam.  The  steam  would  go  in  under  the  piston  and 
lift  it  up,  and  then  he  would  turn  another  littlo  cock  that 
‘ would  let  in  cold  water  that  would  condense  the  steam,  and 
: down  would  go  the  piston,  then  he  would  handle  a lever  and 
I it  would  go  up  and  then  turn  the  little  cock  that  would  let  the 
water  in,  and  down  she  w'ould  go.  That  is  the  way  they 

■ pumped  the  Cornish  mines  with  the  old  engine  of  Savery, 
before  Watt.  They  had  a shiftless  kind  of  a boy, 
and  that  thing  kept  going  up  and  down,  and  this 
■thing  kept  going  up  and  down,  and  the  boy  said; 
why  could  not  that  working  beam  open  and  shut 

■ that  throttle  valve  ? So  he  got  some  rope  and  tied 
it  fast  to  the  throttle  valve  and  to  the  lever  of  the 
condenser  cock  fastened  them  to  the  working  beam,  and  the 
thing  went  first  rate  and  worked  itself,  and  the  boy  went  off 
and  played  marbles.  His  master  came  along  and  said, 

, “what  are  you  doing  here  playing  marbles,  why  don’t  you 
run  the  machine?”  and  says  he  “Don’t  the  machine  nm  it- 
self well  enough  ? it  runs  itself  better  than  I can  run  it.” 
6o  will  the  financial  machine  proposed  run  itself  better  than 
anybody  can  run  it.  When  we  get  it  in  operation  the  Secre- 
tary can  leave  the  working  beam  to  open  and  shut  the  valves, 
and  he  may  also  go  and— play  marbles.  [Laughter  and 
■applause.] 

We  are  building  a little  financial  engine  now,  and  we 
will  see  how  another  part  of  it  will  run.  Next,  suppose 
that  I am  engaged  in  the  business  of  pork-packing.  I don’t 
want  to  buy  pork  in  mid-summer;  I don’t  want  to  pack 
pork  in  July;  I want  to  come  down  here  to  Champaign 
about  this  time  in  the  year,  (December.)  I want  to  buy 
ray  pork  In  packing  season.  Now  say  I have  one  hundred 
thou-sand  dollars  to  invest  in  pork:  when  the  proper  season 
; arrives.  I have  .$100,000  in  gi-eenbacks  for  which  I 

I have  no  present  use,  I take  them  to  the  sub- 
treasury  of  the  United  States  and  I say  there  are  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  of  irredeemable  green- 
backs. Why  don’t  the  government  do  something  with 
them?  Why  don’t  they  make  our  currency  as  good  as 
gold  ? I don’t  want  to  buy  hogs  with  these  greenbaolcs  in 
■July,  and  I step  right  over  to  the  sub-treasurer  and  say, 
“ what  can  you  do  with  those  things !”  and  he  says  “ Con- 
gres.s  passed  a law  this  last  winter  authorizing  me  to  give 
you  three  per  cent,  interest,  gold-bearing  bonds  for 
these.”  “ Yes,  but  they  will  be  tied  up;  I don’t  know  that 

I I can  sell  the  bonds  when  I want  to  buy  hogs  in  the  Au- 
tumn.” “ Well  that  is  all  right.”  “ Howi  ” “ Why,  they 
are  intcrconvertable  bonds,  or  certificates,  interconvertable 
certificates  We  call  them  interconvertable  certificates  so 
las  to  distinguish  them  from  the  long  bonds  which  Gen. 
Clrant  proposes,  three  sixty-five  long  bonds  which  will  go  to 
England  and  stay  there.  [Laughter.]  There  is  a wide  dif- 
ference between  the  3-65  long  bonds  proposed  by  President 

■ Glrant  in  his  recent  message  to  congress  and  the  3-65  inter- 
.mnvertable  bonds.  He  (the  sub  treasurer)says  it  is  inter- 
jonvertable.  What  does  that  mean  ? It  means  this : You 
ihall  have  your  green-backs  converted  into  interest-bearing 
ibligations  of  the  government  now  when  you  don’t  want 
, o use  them  as  currency.  The  government  owes  you  the 
i mount  represented  by  the  green-backs.  It  issued  them 
or  munitions  of  war,  rations,  forage  and  blood;  it  owes 
■his  debt.  The  government  does  not  o.are  to  make  sacrifices 

t ■o  pay  the  debt  when  the  people  do  not  ask  payment.  The 
Jnited  States  will  give  you  interest  on  this  portion  of  its 
Icbt  whenever  you  ask  it,  and  congress  has  passed  a law 
I o that  effect.  They  have  also  realized  the  fact  that  it  is 
ill  debt;  that  they  ought  to  pay  interest  on  it  the  same  as 
•uy  other  debt.  Yon  are  a creditor  of  the  goverement. 
rhe  government  owes  you  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
ffou  are  the  financial  successor  of  those  who  furnished 
he  munitions  of  war  or  served  as  soldiers  or  sailors.  You 
nay  firing  the  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  green-backs 
n here.  Here  are  your  certificates,  three  per  cent,  interest- 
learing  i^ertificates.  I take  them  and  put  them  in  my  pocket. 

, keep  them  imtil  cold  weather, and  when  I want  co  buy  farm 
roductsthen  I step  right  down  to  the  sub-treasurer  and  say; 

,, ‘Let  me  have  those  green-baclss ; here  are  your  certifi- 
ates,”  and  the  sub-treasurer  turns  me  out  my  one  hiuidred 
boiisand  dollars  in  green-backs  and  interest  from  the  time 
, put  them  in  the  sub-treasury,  \mtil  I take  them  out;  not 
iterest  on  them  but  on  the  debt  which  tliey  represent. 
”00  Government  gave  me  another  forin  of  obligation,  and 


I take  my  green-backs  in  exchange  for  my  certificaics 
Now  I go  into  the  country,  and  bring  back  farm 
products  and  prepare  them  for  the  consumer  and 
sell  them  and  towards  mid-summer, . I get  my 
currency  back.  I get  my  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
greenbacks  again;  go  to  the  sub-treasurer,  get  the  certificate 
put  it  in  my  pocket;  then  in  the  faU  reconvert  it  into  green- 
backs, buy  and  pack  h^s  with  it.  That  is  what  we  call  elastic 
currency.  [Applause:^  It  contracts  when  you  don’t  want 
it,  and  it  expands  when  you  do  want  it.  [Applause 
and  laughter.]  Qvi  fa-cii  per  allum,  fadtper  se. 

ELA.STICITY  DON’T  MEAN  STBETCH. 

It  means  spring,  and  spring  goes  both  ways;  that 
is  what  we  3-65  rag-baby  men  are  after.  If  I 
am  not  -talking  good  sense  don’t  believe  me ; but  if  the 
next  man  who  comes  along  here  to  talk  to  you  on  this  subject, 
does  not  talk  good  sense,  don’t  you  believe  him.  If  a man 
comes  and  tells  you  that  he  is  talking  financial  science  and  it 
is  so  deep  and  so  wide  that  you  cannot  touch  the  bottom  or 
get  across  it,  tell  him  that  common  sense  is  a systematic 
arrangement  of  facts  and  con’ect  conclusions  therefrom ; 
that  science  is  uncommonly  good  common  sense  and  that 
anything  that  is  contrai-y  to  common  sense  is  not  scientific. 
[Applause.]  The  trouble  with  the  Englishmen  is  this. 
They  are-trying  to  understand  a system  that  is  not  under- 
Btaiidible,  They  are  trying  to  tinker  up  and  preserve  a 
machine  that  is  outgrown  and  unworkable,  and  our 
people  should  all  know  this;  when  they  do  they  will  no 
more  than  pf  re-introducing  it  into  this  country  think  they 
would  of  importing  London  fogs. 

The  discussion  of  the  financial  question  in  this  country 
is  for  the  perfection  of  a system  that  has  so  far  grown 
out  of  our  war  experiences,  and  that  we  have  got  so  far 
advanced  in  in  spite  of  our  main  strength  and  stupidness 
in  tryng  to  surpress  it. 

Common  sense  is  a systematic  arrangement  of  facts.  We  must 
get  all  the  facte  in.  I was  talking  about  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  that  I got  back  for  my  pork  after  it  was  packed.  I 
said  I took  it  right  over  to  the  sub-treasury,  and  the  gov- 
ernment gave  me  certificates  for  it,  because  it  was  a 
debt.  Now  there  are  black -backs  mixed  up  with 
this  new  lot  of  green-backs;  when  I get  it  back 
I take  it  over  to  the  sub-ti-easury  and  I say  to  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States:  “ Sir,  I wish  to  have  three 
per  cent,  certificates  of  ten  thousand  dollars  each  for  these 
one  hxmdred  thousand  dollars.”  He  looks  it  over  and  says: 
“ I cannot  do  that.”  “ Why  1”  says  I,  “ you  did  it  for  me 
last  year.”’  “ Oh  yes,  I did  something  of  that  kind  for  you 
last  year,  but  you  had  the  green-backs  pure  and  simple,  no 
mixture;  this  iaa  mixed  article;  we  don’t  take  in  that  kind 
of  mixture  here.  We  will  assort  it  for  you  and 
take  in  what  belo.ugs  to  us.  What  shall  I do  with 
the  black-backs  [National  bank  notes.]  There 

is  a redemption  bureau  in  Washington;  you  have  to 
send  them  down  by  express  and  they  will  send  you  back 
green-backs  for  them.”  “ Well,  yes.”  Now,  the  farther  I 
live  off  from  the  bureau,  the  more  it  costs  me  in 
money  and  in  time.  Because  New  York  is  the 
great  financial  center;  the  law  is  made  to  suit  New 
York  not  Minnesota.  Do  you  see  that  point  ? The  center 
of  redemption  is  away  in  a corner  of  the  country.  It  is 
worse  for  those  people  that  live  far  away.  It  takes  more 
time  and  express  charges  to  send  your  National  Bank  notes 
to  Washington  for  redemption  than  it  does  if  you  had  a bu- 
reau in  each  one  of  the  sixteen  cities,  the  way  it  was  origi 
nally  arranged  in  the  national  banking  system — Milwau- 
kee}, St.  Louis  and  so  on.  That  was  amended  in  favor  of 
tlie  Ea.st. 

“ V/E  DON’T  miCE  THIS  ACTIVE  UEDE.MPTION,” 
eay  the  National  banks. 

“The  green-hacks  used  to  be  the  same  as  national  bank 
notes,  and  now  the  government  is  making  them  intercon- 
vertible with  three  per  cent,  certificates.  I don’t  like  it.” 
“Because  it  makes  them  worth  more  than  the  national  biuik 
note,  and  the  national  bank  notes  are  not  convertible,  and 
so  we  have  to  redeem  them ; we  have  to  keep  a large  line 
of  greenbacks  at  Washington  aU  the  while.  Then  they  begin 
to  think  why  would  it  not  be  a good  plan  for  us  bo  use  those 
8-65  bonds.  "What  is  the  use  of  our  keeping  bonds  to  secure 
circulating  notes  all  the  time.whilc  we  can  sell  our  bonds  at  & 
premium.  While  the  law  pennite  it,  send  the  notes  dovra 
as  fast  as  Hioy  come  into  Washington  and  when  they  get  to. 
the  redemption  agent  turn  them  right  into  the  department 
and  havo  them  turn  out  a bond;  and  if  they  turn  out  a boivl. 


12 


Speech  of  Sydney  Myers,  Esq. 


tell  them  to  biim  up  the  notes.  You  burn  green-backs 
now;  then  you  will  burn  bank  notes,  and  we  will  reduce  our 
circulation.  Oh,  yes;  here  is  the  new  law: 

V.  Permit  any  national  bank  (without  necessarily  reduc- 
ing its  capital,  or  surrendering  any  of  its  franchises)  to  re 
duoe  its  circulation  and  withdraw  its  securities  pro  rata,  un- 
til its  circulation  shall  not  exceed  five  thousand  dollars  ($5,- 
000). 

“Any  national  bank  may  reduce  its  circulation  without 
abandoning  any  of  its  franchises  until  it  shall  not  exceed 
$5,000,”  and  now  w^e  will  get  all  our  bonds  from  Washing- 
ton, but  five  thousand  dollars ; we  will  retire  aU  our  circu- 
lation but  five  thousand  dollars,  and  we  will  use  the  inter- 
convertible bond  and  not  be  bothered  any  more  with  that 
redemption  business,  because  actually  the  circulation  don’t 
pay  us  much.  To  be  honest  the  circulation  of  national  banks 
when  you  come  to  make  the  green-back  convertible  into 
three  per  cent,  certificates  wont  pay.  Start  lively  redemptions 
on  them  scattered,  as  they  are,  all  over  the  United  States.  It 
won’t  pay  them  much.  But  wait  and  get  the  green-backs 
out  of  the  way — establish  the  fact  that  the  people 
of  this  country  have  already  pronounced  what  kind 
of  money  we  are  going  to  have  in  the  future — that  is  a 
quotation,  recollect  it  ? Establish  that  fact,  and  when  you 
have  got  the  gaeen-backs  out  of  the  way,  and  when  you 
have  got  out  of  the  way  that  very  worthy  and  respectable 
cla&s  of  citizens  who  at  this  time  owm  and  control,  for  the 
most  part,  the  national  banks,  who,  when  the  government 
wanted  everything  and  did  not  know  where  to  sell  their 
bonds,  and  when  those 

FOREIGN  CAPITALISTS  TURNED  THE  COLD  SHOULDER 
and  said  they  did  not  know  “ how  that  cat  was 
going  to  jump,”  said  in  their  patriotism,  in  this  town, 
perhaps,  and  in  other  towns  all  over  the  country,  “,we  uill 
put  in  our  means,  and  we  will  buy  government  bonds  and 
we  will  start  a national  bank  here.”  When  the  w'hiskey  ring 
class  get  these  men  out  of  the  way  that  are  stockholders, 
to-day,  in  the  national  bank  system,  and  when  they  get  in  a 
class  of  men  that  know  how  to  start  a bank  of  a million 
capital  without  a cent,  then  they  will  amend  the  law  so 
that  it  win  pay  to  have  a circulation.  If  the  people  of  this 
cx)untry  haven’t  any  better  sense  than  to  let  everything 
go  by  the  board,  and  to  allow  themselves  to  be  handled  by 
the  whisky  ring  class,  who  will  get  hold  of  the  national 
bank  franchises,  who  will  traffic  in  your  financial  atmos- 
phere, as  your  city  company  does  here  with  its  gas,  if  this 
happens,  the  greenbacks  will  aU  be  burned,  and  all  the  cir- 
culating medium  will  be  furnished  in  the  shape  of  national 
bank  notes,  which  will  soon  become  like  Illinois  and  Wis- 
consin “stumptail  ” currency.  [Applause.] 

THE  QUESTION  IS  NOT  BETWEEN  GOLD  AND  PAPER  OUB- 
1U5NCY. 

It  is  between  a paper  currency  issued  directly  by  the  people’s 
agent  and  made  redeemable  in  government  bonds,  and  a 
paper  currency  issued  by  a class,  and  theoretically  redeem- 
able in  gold,  but  practically  redeemable  in  nothing.  For 
when  demand  is  made  for  coin  in  redemption,  suspension 
and  panic  ahvays  ensue.  Moreover,  the  national  bank  sys- 
tem, if  perpetuated,  will  become  an  instrument  of  tyn-any 
in  the  hands  oE  eveiy  dominant  party.  There  is  only  oiir. 
national  bank;  what  you  call  national  banks  are  only 
branches:  they  are  nm  by  the  “Bank  Examiner,”  who 
receives  his  orders,  from  the  central  office  at  Washington. 
He  knc>ws  evei-y  business  man’s  business,  and  may  haod.le 
every  busi)\ess  man’s  purse  strings.  [Applause,] 

Now  I want  to  be  consistent,  and  I want  to  say 
nothing  upon  the  platform  that  I cannot  answ’or 
in  the’  face  of  the  world.  We  want,  not  only  money 
of  the  realm,  that  is  good  to  the  sherifi:,  but  we  want 
that  Scriptural  kind  of 

MONEY  THAT  IS  “ CURRENT  WITH  THE  MERCHANTS” 
who  are  not  compelled  to  sell;  we  hot  only  want 
money  of  the  realm,  but  we  want  current  money,  money  that 
will  go  from  hand  to  hand,  and  money  that  no  man,  if  he 
keep  it  over  night  will  g?t  stuck  with.  Wo  want  money  that, 
passing  Ifom  hand  to  hand  in  commerce,  when  the  tide  rises, 
when  business  is  active,  will  come  out,  opt  when  busi- 
ness slackcms,  and  there  are  not  so  many  purchases  and  sales, 
will  flovr  away  out  ol  circulation,  that  it  will  be  solid- 
ified, as  v/ator  is  solified  into  ice,  by  being  convertible  into 
ihe  bond;  and  when  that  motion,  which  is  in  science  another 
word  for  heat,  when  that  activity  of  commerce  is  sufficiently 
ihtonw)  that  tl'-ft  ice  of  the  bond  should  molt  Into  the  water 
r f the  cwTcncy— cuiTont  money,  money  that  when  I recoivo 


it,  I know  that  1 will  receive  for  it  an  equivalent  equal  to 
what  I gave  for  it.  We  want  steadiness  in  value,  and  in  or- 
der to  have  steadiness  in  the  value  of  the  cuirency,  we  must 
have  elasticy  in  its  volume,  and  that  is  effected  by  the  inter- 
convertible certificate.  I have  spoken  of 
GOLD  FOR  INTEREST. 

I say  gold  for  interest  because  the  price  of  gold  is 
to-day  the  recognized  standard  of  values  through- 
out the  world.  But  I say  let  the  interest  on  the 
inter -convertible  bond  bo  paid  in  gold  or  legal  tender 
small  bonds,  at  the  option  of  the  holder  of  the  certifi- 
cate. Let  all  interest  on  inter-convertible  bonds  be  paid  by 
check  on  Washington,  and  when  the  man  brings  in  his  inter- 
convertible bonds,  for  redemption,  die  will  find  just  as  much 
money,  just  as  many  greenbacks  in  there  as  there  are  certifi- 
cates. W^hen  they  issue  a -certificate  at  a sub-treasury  they 
must  keep  the  green-backs  in  their  ovm  possession,  not  let 
them  go  into  the  old  fallacy  of  paying  out  seventy-five  per 
cent.,  and  keeping  only  twenty  five  per  cent,  to  redeem  with. 

Now  what  is  that  thing  payable  in,  exhibiting  the 
greenback?  MTien  you  come  to  talk  of  paymetU, 

A MAN  CANNOT  PAY  HIS  DEBT  IN  HIS  OWN  PROMISES 

Promises  do  not  pay,  though  they  may  renew  and 
extend  debt.  Premises  may  be  taken  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  holders  of  the  outstanding  obligation  in  lieu,  and 
are  often  prefered  to  payment.  You  cannot  go  to  the  store 
keeper,  however,  and  say,  “well,  I am  going  to  pay  now;, 
give  me  a piece  of  paper.”  Y’ou  write  a note  without 
interest,  you  hand  it  to  him,  and  says  I am  going  home 
to  my  family,  and  feel  my  debts  are  paid.”  But  that  note 
does  not  pay  the  debt.  And  when  Mr.  Chase  sat 
down,  with  his  pen,  in  the  darkest  time  of  the  war,  and 
wrote  out,  “The  United  States  will  pay  one  dollar,”  what 
did  he, mean?  He  meant  just  exactly  what  a dollar  was 
when  he  wrote  that  first  greenback,  and  that  is  what  it 
means  to-day,  gentlemen.  And  you  don’t  want  to  do  any- 
thing that  is  not  right.  If  it  comes  to  a payment 
— what  was  a dollar  according  to  the  definition  by  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  when  it  was  issued  is  a dollor  now. 

BUT  WE  DO  NOT  WANT  THEM  PAID. 

We  want  them  for  a currency  to  circulate  among 
our  people;  non-interest-bearing,  but  convertible  in 
to  interest-bearing  obligations  whenever  we  wish  to  present 
them,  at  convenient  places ; and  we  want  to  strike  out  the 
words  “will  pay,”  and  say  in  the  place  of  them  “indebted 
to.”  That  cannot  be  done  without  the  consent  of  the  holder; 
bnt  let  Congress  pass  an  act  providing  that  any  liolder  of 
greenbacks  may  take  them  to  the  sub-treasury  and  get  three 
per  cent,  gold  bearing  certificates,  provided  he  will  permit 
them  to  erase  the  words  “will  pay,”  and  put  instead  “is  in- 
debted to,”  then  we  will  all  do  it,  and  that  will  be  a fair 
bargain.  There  will  be  no  repudiation  about  that,  becaufse 
we  do  not  want  the  greenbacks  paid;  we  only  want  them 
made  intro-convertible  with  interestbearing  obligations  ot 
the  government. 

WHENEVER  YOU  GET  CLEAR  OF  THE  GREENBACKS, 
whenever  you  decide  that  it  is  the  will  of  the  peoiile  that 
banks,  and  corporations  shall  furnish  all  the  circulation  of 
the  country,  then  I say  that  you  have  got  a hand  upon  your 
financial  throat,  and 

THERE  IS  ONLY  ONE  BANK  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  TO-DAT. 

I tell  you  there  is  only  one  bank  in  the  United  States  to-day 
and  that  is  the  National  Bank.  The  President  of  the  Unit 
ed  States  is  the  president  of  that  hank;  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury  is  the  vice  president  of  that  bank;  the  Bank  Coinp 
troller  is  the  cashier  of  that  bank,  and  the  so-called  bank  Ex 
aminer  for  every  district  is  the  manager  of  th^  branches  in 
his  district.  People  are  playing  bank  presidents;  they 
are  playing  bank  directors;  they  think  they  are  bank 
presidon'ta;  they  think  they  are  bank  directors;  .(hoy 
are  simply  sn  pern  tuner  ios.  The  bank  examiner  runs  the 
branch  banks  in  all  these  cities  and  towns.  Yon  gid 
the  machinery  in  the  hands  of  politicians  — 1 say 
politicians  I don’t  care  wlmt  party  is  in  power;  bu^ 
yon  let  them,  by  controlling  this  financial  machine,  hav.: 
a hand  on  the  throat  of  every  oomnmnity  as  largo  as  this  it 
all  over  this  land,  n hand  that  managos  every  pnrso-stnng 
and  don’t  you  open  your  heads  about  opposition  or  change, 
and  don’t  you  talk  your  political  Bcntimonte  uuless  you  tall; 
withtyoiu' wife,  in  a whisper,  with  the  door  shut.  1 thank 
yon,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  for  your  attontiou.  [Appla'is 
and  a vote  of  tiiauks  1 


1^-  ..  . 'V; 


ri 


■ 


% 


,V  S'.i 


Pressboard 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

Gaylord  Bros.  Inc. 
Makers 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
PAT.  JAN  21,  1908 


